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Sunday, May 15, 2016

Did Bony Knees Cost Lou Gehrig a Hollywood Career?

Lou Gehrig
is an iconic figure in baseball history, both for his legendary career with the
New York Yankees as a slugging first baseman, and because of his tragic death
from an eponymous disease at the age of 37. Despite his exploits on the field,
he nearly had another star turn—that of Hollywood actor. At one point he was
actually poised to assume the role of Tarzan in the movies but was ultimately
passed over; possibly due to knobby knees.

The Iron Horse captivated the baseball world during his
17-year run with the Yankees. He walloped the baseball to the tune of a .340 career
batting average with 493 home runs, 1,995 RBIs and six World Series
championships. Having studied at prestigious Columbia University, he was more
educated, and perhaps as a consequence, more taciturn than other stars of the
day, especially his teammate Babe Ruth.
Accordingly, he did not receive the same amount of attention when it came to
the cross-branding some like the Bambino did with baseball and the burgeoning Hollywood
business. However, his big nearly came in 1936, when he was 33 and coming off
an MVP season and there was a search for the next Tarzan.

Johnny
Weismuller, a chiseled winner of multiple Olympic gold medals as a swimmer,
created a lucrative
secondary career playing Tarzan
in a number of successful movies. After he decided to work on other projects, a
replacement was sought. Christy Walsh, Gehrig’s business manager, knew an
opportunity when he saw it and pushed for his client to be given the role.

In an effort to boost his candidacy, Gehrig went public with
his desire to don the loin cloth of fame. When asked if he was afraid of
animals, he played up his baseball experience and his flair for the dramatic, exclaiming,
“No! At least I’m not afraid of Tigers—I’ve faced many of ‘em in 12 years of
baseball—but those Lions, well, we’ll have to wait and see.”

Sex was not discussed as openly as it is today but was still
an integral part of selling movies. When Walsh first contacted producer Sol
Lesser about getting Gehrig a screen test, one of the first things they did was
ask for more revealing photographs of the slugger, as the only frame of
reference they had as to how he might look were the pictures of him in his
baggy baseball uniform. “I guess the public’s entitled to a look at my body,”
Gehrig acknowledged after news of this spread.

Walsh was unabashedly brash in promoting his client, telling
reporters, “Lou’s got everything to go over big in the movies. He stands
six-feet-one and weighs 210 pounds. If he gets a chance with lions and tigers
there’ll probably be a scarcity of those species after he gets through with
them. The next move is up to Hollywood.”

Gehrig was asked who he’d like to have as a leading lady.
Although he admitted actress Irene
Dunne was his favorite, he did say “I could act much better with my wife in
my arms.” When the matter of matching the sex appeal of Weismuller was brought
up, Gehrig let that one go by, simply stating, “I’ll leave that up to you
fellows and the ladies—If I get the chance.”

Initially, it appeared
that Gehrig had nabbed the role. Walsh cryptically told
reporters, “Nothing definite has been done but the possibilities have been
discussed and Gehrig will be glad to consider the details, if and when they
develop.” The papers even started speculating how much money would coax the
first baseman on to the big screen.

In late October, 1936, a deal seemed imminent but then
quickly went south. The press had printed a photo
of Gehrig in his Tarzan leopard cloth dress, wielding a cudgel and making a
“jungle call.” Although the world-class athlete had a phenomenal physique, his
less-developed knees were allegedly
noticeable right away by the Hollywood set who needed to make sure that their
next scantily clad hero was unimpeachable when it his level of studliness.

No less than Edgar Rice Burroughs, the original author of
Tarzan, went
public with his gallon of gasoline he threw on the fire. He sent the aspiring
actor a chilly telegram, confirming he didn’t think he had what it took.
“Having seen several pictures of you as Tarzan and paid about $50 for newspaper
clippings on the subject, I want to congratulate you on being a swell first
baseman,” the writer wired sarcastically. Sadly, Hollywood decided to go in
another direction with a different actor (Olympic
decathlete Glenn Morris) and left Gehrig to continue his career on the
baseball diamond.

Gehrig was purported
to claim he was the one who turned the role down because being in costume made
him feel “too naked.” As a consolation prize, the movie studio gave him a contract
“to appear in other pictures.” This led to just one movie role—though a
starring one. He received top billing in the 1938 film, Rawhide, whose plot is described by IMDB as “Baseball
superstar Gehrig is one of several ranchers being coerced by a bunch of
bandits. His sister and her lawyer/lover organize the ranchers.”

It’s indisputable that Lou Gehrig was a much better baseball
player than actor. However, he may have gotten a chance to prove otherwise if
his apparently non-shapely knees didn’t prevent him from taking over a legendary Hollywood
franchise.